Northridge soccer gets first player on MVP trophy following win over Greeley West

Northridge and Greeley West soccer, like many rivalries in this town, award a plaque to the most valuable player from the winning team of their annual showdowns.

Starting with 2008, the names of the annual MVPs are inscribed in gold with blank spaces awaiting future heroes.

No Northridge girl had put her name on it. Until Friday night.

Kyla Beck delivered a scintillating corner-kick goal, helped facilitate Northridge's offense from the midfield and played stout defense to help the Grizzlies (5-0) to a 3-0 win over the Spartans (0-3, 1-5) and earn MVP honors, though she said she'd have given it to her 14 teammates if she could.

"We don't have one player," a proud Tom Beck, Northridge's coach and Kyla's dad, said. "That award will be split up among the whole team."

It was never in doubt that this game would be played, even as baseball and track teams scrambled to fit their contests in around this weekend's inclement weather. So Northridge and West played as if in a bubble, with a freezing mist hanging around District 6 Soccer Field and obscuring any view beyond it.

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The weather, and the Grizzlies' having the past week off for spring break, slowed them from the start. Northridge dominated possession early but could make nothing of it. The precipitation hung over everything.

Throw-ins slipped from players' hands and landed meekly, barely inbounds. Set-piece kicks skidded along the ground. Players slipped and fell when they tried to cut and stop.

"We knew that was gonna be an ugly half," Tom Beck said. "Not making any excuses. We were a little rusty."

Once Northridge adjusted to the elements, it took control of the game. The Grizzlies staved off West's best scoring chance in the 33rd minute, and that seemed to boost their confidence.

Six minutes later, Kyia Pigati knocked in her own rebound to give Northridge a 1-0 lead as the first half expired. Beck added insurance in the 52nd minute. She took a corner kick, her dad's advice in the back of her mind.

"She was coming through too much on corners," Tom Beck said.

Said Kyla: "I was just trying to center it in. I was aiming for the person right in the middle (of the goal)."

This corner curved low off of Beck's boot, hung in the air for a moment and hooked into the back of West's goal. Two to nothing Grizzlies.

"I really wasn't aiming for the goal," she said. "With the wind, it curved right in."

Her dad had a simpler assessment: "That one was perfect."

Alana Vasquez provided the final margin 12 minutes later with a header from deep in the box.

The Grizzlies went 1-12-1 five years ago. The Becks arrived the next season. They, along with the rest of the Grizzlies' seniors, have helped the team improve gradually, to six wins the first year, then seven, then nine a season ago, when they barely missed the playoffs.

They've won eight games in a row going back to that season. Finally beating West, even if it's struggling, is a milestone. But it's not the one Northridge is shooting for.

In addition to her goal, her first of the season, Kyla Beck was everywhere. She helped orchestrate the Grizzlies' offense in the midfield and gave up nothing on defense in a Sam Chuenchit MVP performance.

Turning Point

West had its best chance to pull the upset in the 33rd minute. After a Northridge shot bounced harmlessly off the right side of the goal, the Spartans exploded downfield off the goal kick.

Grizzlies keeper Peña came far out of her net to make a save, but she couldn't corral the rebound. West had possession and an open net as Peña scrambled back, but the Grizzlies' defense took possession back without allowing the Spartans to get off a shot.

That kept the game scoreless; six minutes later, Pigati's volley put Northridge ahead. West didn't have as good a scoring chance the rest of the game.

What's NEXT

Northridge hosts 5A Denver South (4-1) at 6 p.m. Wednesday, then starts league play at home against Silver Creek (4-2) at 6 p.m. Friday.